Apply Good Selling Skills for Job Interview Success
Here’s an article from Mark Hunter with some more sales advice for you. Practicing these sales tips will certainly improve your selling and closing skills, but here’s a good way to apply it to your job interview skills: It’s true that you probably don’t want to limit your talking during the job interview to 20% of the time, but you do want to remember that your job interview is a conversation. Have some prepared questions to ask your interviewer–about the job, the company, goals, and more. First of all, that will help you to relax (which makes it easier to project confidence), and secondly, drawing out information from your interviewer will help you give better answers to interview questions. And, asking questions during your job interview impresses hiring managers–asking the right questions shows your knowledge, strategic thinking, and confidence. It sets you apart as an outstanding candidate.
| Communication Skills: Shut Up and Sell! |
| Contrary to popular belief, to be a successful salesperson, it doesn’t matter how much you know about your product or service. It also doesn’t matter how much of an industry expert you are. It doesn’t even matter how great your mother thinks you are. The only thing that really matters to be successful in selling is your ability to shut-up and listen.
On numerous occasions, everyone in sales has heard how important it is to get the customer talking, so it’s imperative that they have an arsenal of great questions to ask. Despite trying to follow this guideline, every salesperson seems to overstate the amount of time they believe they allow the customer to talk. The many interviews I’ve conducted over the years with customers and salespeople alike confirm this reality. Therefore, salespeople need to take a step back and consider their sales presentation. To talk less means you have to ask questions that truly engage the customer. However, this doesn’t mean you need to develop complex questions. Instead, the best tactic is to ask shorter ones. Long questions tend to result in short answers, while short questions will generally result in long answers. An example of a great short question is, “Why?” In my opinion, there isn’t a better follow-up question you can ask after the customer has shared with you some information. Consider how your customers would respond to other short examples like, “Can you elaborate on that?” and “Could you explain more?” These shorter questions elicit detailed responses and that’s just what you want. On the other hand, asking complex questions often tends to perplex customers. Because they are not sure what you are looking for, they respond with the universal answer representing total confusion, “What did you say?” Questions should not be your means of showing your customers that you are an expert. Save that for your statements. When preparing your sales presentation, a guideline I subscribe to is to limit yourself from talking for more than 20 seconds at a time without asking a question. The question you ask should be one directed at the comments you just made. By doing so, you’re checking with the customer to see if they understood what you just shared with them. Again, this is something many salespeople overlook. They get caught up in sharing with the customer their expertise and the features of their product or service and forget all about what the customer is thinking. Even if your product or service requires a complex presentation, you should still follow this rule. Whether you’re selling software, high value medical equipment, or technical tools, it’s essential to check your clients understanding by asking a question every 20 seconds. Your goal on any sales call is to talk only 20% of the time. To help ensure that this takes place, you have to plan ahead. Before you start developing your sales presentation, create your list of questions. This is contrary to the pattern of most salespeople who often spend a substantial portion of their time developing their presentation and, at the last minute, develop their list of questions. Consider that if you’re expecting to have a 20 minute presentation, you should have 40 questions (2 questions per minute). Even though you may not use all 40, you’ll definitely be more prepared. In addition, you’ll be able to pick and choose which ones you want to ask. If you’re following the rule of asking short questions, you’ll ensure that the customer is doing most of the talking. You’ll learn valuable information that will help you better understand the customer’s needs. If you want to move your questioning process to the next level, make half of the questions you ask be ones that help the customer see and feel the pain they have. By doing so, they will be much more open to receiving your solution. For example, if you’re selling computer back-up systems, you might ask, “Can you explain to me what happens when data is lost?” This short, concise question is designed to get the customer thinking about the risks they face. Furthermore, the beauty of this type of question is that no matter what the customer’s response is, some good follow-up questions will naturally arise. By adhering to these guidelines, you will be able to see dramatic results in the number of sales you are able to close. As simple as it sounds, the more you shut up, the more you’ll sell. And, the easiest way to achieve this goal is by asking more, short questions. So, shut up and sell! |
Mark Hunter, “The Sales Hunter”, www.TheSalesHunter.com, © 2007
Link to this page
Related posts:
- Use Phone Sales Skills (even if you’re not in sales) for Job Interview Success ...
- Phone Sales Tips Lead to Phone Interview Success ...
- Selling Yourself with Confidence as a Job Candidate ...
- When To Introduce Your 30/60/90-day Sales Plan In The Job Interview ...
- 10 Tips for Phone Interview Success! ...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Ready to test your job interview skills check out http://www.crootpad.com/game.aspx?id=1 also some tips for Handling illegal interview questions: http://bit.ly/7Vg2SU from http://www.tipsburg.com
There is some great advice here. In 2010 with the economy like it is there is an even better case for good sales skills. Sales people must understand the different skill set required between making a simple sale and a major sale.
keep up the good work.
Cosplay Costumes
Cosplay
Gothic dresses
I have searched all over google for info on this topic, I finally found a good post, looking forward to coming back!
Over de voor- en nadelen van het afsluiten van een lening zonder BKR-toetsing.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.I enjoyed well while reading your article
U wilt geld lenen zonder BKR toetsing? De opties hiervoor worden groter, kijk verder en ontdek hoe u wél geld kunt lenen, snel & eenvoudig.
Wow this takes me back. Do you have a RSS feed?
All people deserve very good life time and home loans or sba loan can make it much better. Because people’s freedom is based on money.
Hi there! I really love reading your blog today! Keep making great posts and I will come back every day to keep reading!
i just emailed this article to my friends! thanks!
i just emailed this article to my friends! thanks!
Hello, I just wanted to take the time to make a comment and say I have really enjoyed reading your blog. Thanks for all your work!
I added a link to this site on my blog! can you add a link of my blog to your site
This is a topic close to my heart thanks, i’ve been thinking about this for a while.
how do i get your blog’s rss feed?
Bereken zelf uw hypotheek. Hypotheek berekenen? Maak snel een indicatieve berekening van het maximale leenbedrag van uw hypotheek.
Great post cheers, sending this to my friends now.
Wow! That was a really great article. Please keep writing because I love your style.
Hypotheek informatie, hypotheek aanvragen of afsluiten? Hypotheekrentes bekijken. Hypotheek aanbieders vergelijken, hypotheek vormen, bijkomende kosten,
Hoeveel kan ik lenen? (hypotheek). Wat worden mijn maandlasten? (hypotheek) … Hoeveel hypotheek heb ik nodig? Hoe hoog is de boete die ik nu zou moeten
BKR problemen? Nu Geld lenen zonder BKR toetsing? Op zoek naar betrouwbare aanbieders? Wij vergelijken banken die u toch kunnen helpen aan een betrouwbare
how do i get your blog’s rss feed?
how do i get your blog’s rss feed?
please can you translate into thai
This is a subject near to my heart thanks, found you through Bing.
i just emailed this article to my friends! thanks!
I think this an informative and interesting article. I think it is very useful and knowledgeable, happy to see some people still have interest in this. I would like to thank you for the work you have made in writing this article. I am wish the same best work from you in the future as well best regards
Thanks for taking the time to discuss this, I feel strongly about it and love learning more on this topic. If possible, as you gain expertise, would you mind updating your blog with more information? It is extremely helpful for me.
Have you actually regarded as adding a lot more videos for your blog posts to maintain the readers a lot more entertained? I mean I just examine via the entire post of yours and it was very very good but since I’m further of a visual learner,I discovered that to be a whole lot more beneficial nicely let me know how it turns out! I appreciate what you men are generally up too. This kind of clever operate and reporting! Maintain up the amazing works men I’ve extra you men to my blogroll. This is a great write-up thanks for sharing this informative info.. I will go to your blog regularly for some latest post.
Fantastic!This Post is Inventive,tRight here are a Great deal of new Thought,it gives me inspiration.I Believe I will also inspired by you and Believe about more new Thoughts
Great post cheers, sending this to my friends now.
In related news, a cheetah wouldn’t cheat on his wife, but a Tiger Wood.
In related news, a lion wouldn’t cheat on his wife, but a Tiger Wood.
I will be checking back sometime to see if you have any new content, cheers.
I was Truly Searching for this Source a Several Days Back Once more. Many thanks for sharing with us your wisdom.This will absolutely going to Aid me in my projects .
Wow this definitely takes me back, where are your contact details hmm?
Cool entry cheers, definitely consider a follow up post.